<b>Bonhams Dec. 7:</b> DARWIN, CHARLES. <i>On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life</i>. London: John Murray, 1859. $25,000 – 35,000

<b>Seth Kaller:</b> Einstein Agrees to Allow “a Short Book on the Hydrogen Bomb” to Use His Statement Made on Eleanor Roosevelt’s TV Show

<b>Seth Kaller:</b> The Building Blocks of Albert Einstein’s Creative Mind

<b>Seth Kaller:</b> A Unique Manuscript Map of Block Island Sound Including Fisher’s and Gardiner’s Islands, the Hamptons, and Montauk Point

<b>Seth Kaller:</b> J.R.R. Tolkien Writes his Proofreader with a Lengthy Discussion of the Lord of the Rings, Including Criticism of Radio Broadcasts of his Work

<b>Seth Kaller:</b> Six Benjamin Franklin Signed Receipts – Including his Earliest Obtainable Autograph — Acknowledging a Donation to the Famous Library Company He Founded, and Five Payments for His Pennsylvania Gazette

Rare Book Monthly

Rare Maps from High Ridge Books

- by Michael Stillman

Rare maps from High Ridge Books.

HighRidgeBooks has published their Catalogue63.RareMapsfromthe17thto20thCenturiesFeaturingWallMaps,PocketMaps,SeaChartsandOtherUnusualCartographicItems.This is an extensive selection primarily of maps, almost 300 in all. They range from older European maps and early understandings of the New World, to the development of America, and conclude at the dawn of the era where road maps for automobiles would replace railroad and road maps meant for travelers in horse-drawn carriages. Along the way, we find many local maps - counties and towns. Those looking for maps of particular local interest should see this catalogue as your community might be included. Many of these maps were produced by land developers or the railroads, trying to sell Americans on the wonders of moving to some far-off undeveloped plot of land, whose beautiful description probably had little in common with the reality of living there. Additionally, you will some items not quite maps but related, such as transportation schedules and routes for railroads and boats. Here are a few samples of items to be found in this catalogue of route guides to the world waiting outside your door.

Item 9 is a map that presents an early look at the Americas: AmericawithThoseKnownPartsinThatUnknowneWorld... It is the 1676 fourth state of a map originally published by British mapmaker John Speed in 1626, as part of his atlas AProspectoftheMostFamousPartsoftheWorld. That was the first world atlas produced by an Englishman (the Dutch had previously dominated the field), and while Speed died shortly after its initial publication, his work was so well respected that it was still being printed half a century later. This map includes color images of American natives along its sides and small plans of cities at the top. The first issue was the first map in an atlas to depict California as an island, a misconception carried through to this state. Most of the American Northwest is simply left off, it being an area still virtually unknown in the western world at the time. Priced at $9,500.

Item 32 is an early local map, but not a printed one. It is a circa 1795 manuscript map of four proposed towns in Herkimer County, upstate New York. Herkimer County had been created just a few years earlier, much of it coming from land seized from the Iroquois Indians as payback for their supporting the British during the Revolution. Located north and west of Albany, it was very rural, and still a dangerous frontier area at the time. The primary town was German Flatts, already officially a town at the time, but with three new towns to be carved from it – Litchfield, Warren, and Frankfort. All four still exist today, with German Flatts still a modest size community while the other three towns remain very small in terms of population, even though over two centuries have passed since they were created. $400.

Item 37 is an extremely rare second edition of the first official map of New Hampshire: Philip Carrigain's NewHampshirebyRecentSurveyMadeUnderSupremeAuthorityandPublished. This is an 1818 second edition of the map first published in 1816. It is so rare that some of the bibliographies and sources on maps have referred to the first as an “only” edition, or noted that Carrigain privately sold copies of a second edition but that no copies are known. While the main map is of New Hampshire, there are insets of other New England states and maritime provinces, along with southern and central U.S. States. $8,500.

Item 39 provides a snapshot of America at a specific moment – 1819. Maps could only be of a moment at that time as America was rapidly changing. Indiana, Illinois, and Mississippi are shown as states, as each had been admitted to the Union in the previous three years. However, Alabama is a territory, and few maps would so label it as it only retained territorial status for three years before becoming a state. This map is Samuel Lewis' TravellersGuidetotheUnitedStates, a large wall map. It is called a “travellers guide” as it displayed various roads. Traveling would not have been easy as this predates the explosion of railroads, meaning these would be rough carriage roads. This map incorporated findings in the farther northwest regions from Lewis and Clark's expedition, though detail is limited, and what it refers to as “North West Territory” lies in today's Wisconsin. $9,500.

<b>Dorothy Sloan Books Dec. 15 & 16:</b> UNITED STATES AND MEXICAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. EMORY, William Hemsley. <i>Report of the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey, Made under the Direction of the Secretary of the Interior…</i><br>$3,000-6,000

<b>Dorothy Sloan Books Dec. 15 & 16:</b> RICHARDSON, William H. <i>Journal of William H. Richardson, a Private Soldier in the Campaign of New and Old Mexico…</i>. Baltimore: John H. Woods, 1848. $3,000-6,000

<b>Dorothy Sloan Books Dec. 15 & 16:</b> EMORY, William Hemsley. <i>Map of Texas and the Countries Adjacent: Compiled in the Bureau of the Corps of Topographical Engineers; From the Best Authorities…</i> [Washington, 1844]. $7,500-15,000

<b>Dorothy Sloan Books Dec. 15 & 16:</b> THORPE, Thomas Bangs. <i>Our Army at Monterey. Being a Correct Account of the Proceedings and Events which Occurred to the “Army of Occupation”…</i> Philadelphia, 1847. $400-800

<b>Dorothy Sloan Books Dec. 15 & 16:</b> TILDEN, Bryant Parrott, Jr. <i>Notes on the Upper Rio Grande, Explored in the Months of October and November, 1846, on Board the U.S. Steamer Major Brown…</i> Philadelphia, 1847.<br>$5,000-10,000

<b>Dorothy Sloan Books Dec. 15 & 16:</b> [WORTH, WILLIAM J.]. <i>Life of General Worth; To Which is Added a Sketch of the Life of Brigadier-General Wool.</i> New York: Nafis & Cornish; St. Louis, Mo.: Nafis, Cornish & Co., 1847.<br>$200-400